NHSL King of Prussia Scoping Meeting tonight

The planners working on Round N+1 of the effort to bring a Norristown High Speed Line branch to King of Prussia are having a public scoping meeting tonight at the Valley Forge Radisson, from 4:00p to 8:00p. The main presentation will be at 6:00p. This will be the public kickoff of the Environmental Impact Statement process, which hopefully will take less time and be more fruitful this time around.

The Radisson at Valley Forge is adjacent to the Valley Forge Casino, and is reachable via SEPTA Routes 99, 125, and 139. SEPTA is also laying in extra shuttle bus service from Norristown Transportation Center; that schedule can be found in PDF form here.

NHSL Bridgeport Viaduct closes tonight for at least four months: what you should know

The Bridgeport Viaduct, which carries the Norristown High Speed Line over the Schuylkill River between its namesake borough and Norristown Transportation Center, is in bad shape. Bad enough that SEPTA announced last December that it does not believe it will be safe to ride over after this summer, unless repairs are started pronto. Unfortunately, the capital funding crisis has meant, among other things, that basic maintenance like fixing the bridge has been put off for years, until now when it’s critical. Fortunately, SEPTA was able to scare up just enough money to do a temporary fix to this critical link in the regional network. It’s not really enough, but it will do for now, until the deadlock breaks in Harrisburg.

Starting tomorrow (Monday, 8 July), the NHSL will not serve Norristown. Shuttle buses will be provided. Mondays through Fridays, the NHSL will go as far as Bridgeport, and shuttle buses will run between Bridgeport and NTC. Weekends, NHSL trains will terminate at Hughes Park. Since Hughes Park is not an ADA accessible station, the shuttle buses will instead run from Gulph Mills, and stop at DeKalb and Bridgeport stations on their way to NTC.

The fix being done now is replacing the ties installed in 1985 and at the end of their service life, plus some band-aids applied to structural elements. It will not cure the entire litany of structural problems of the 101-year-old bridge, but it will allow service to reopen this year. NHSL service over the viaduct does not have a fixed reopening date, but it is expected to happen in November. That’s better than we expected in December, when we thought “temporarily suspended” might mean for Norristown what it meant for West Chester, Newtown, and Bethlehem. But we need to keep leaning on legislators in Harrisburg to fund SEPTA sufficiently that we aren’t repeating this dance in three years, either here at the Schuylkill on the NHSL, or at Crum Creek on the Media/Elwyn Line, which SEPTA has indicated is the most endangered bridge in the system after Bridgeport. Our predecessors skimped on prevention; now we need many pounds of cure.

Got the wrong pass? SEPTA somehow anticipated that might happen.

Even the Nicest People On Earth don’t give a shit about Philadelphia.

Did the pass rule changes that went into effect on this Canada Day screw you? SEPTA Customer Service would like you to know that you can trade in your pass for the one you need. Just bring your already-purchased pass, plus the difference in cost, to a SEPTA Sales Window (like the one at, say, 69th Street Terminal). There, you’ll be able to trade in and upgrade your pass, so if you erroneously thought that a Transpass would still get you on the NHSL, you can fix that and get a Zone 1 Trailpass for only $10.

SEPTA, Serious About Not Being An Asshole.

Midnight in the garden of tokens and transfers

As midnight strikes, and the 2013 fare hikes take effect across Southeast Pennsylvania, my worldly possessions sit in storage after a month of a gruelling move process (which is why I’ve been so silent here of late, for which I’m truly sorry), and I sit in a convention hotel in Orlando, the most artificial tourist hellhole I’ve ever experienced (I say after having lived in Las Vegas for two years).

To recap the changes taking effect:

Some of the more egregious elements of the original fare hike proposal have been eliminated, like the proposed increase in CCT/Paratransit fares, or postponed, like the revocation of weekday Airport line privileges for Transpass holders. Some of the most egregious elements were retained, like the continuance of the $1.00 transfer fare. And the looming prospect of NPT looms like a fortress wall for the transit divisions, and like Banquo’s ghost at RRD’s dinner.

Harrisburg seems unable to agree on anything, much less a transportation funding bill. The capital crisis will claim the Bridgeport Viaduct as a casualty in eight days, and no solution seems within reach.

Good night, and good luck, Philadelphia. I’ll raise a glass in your honor tonight. And assuming I survive the next few days, I’ll be back in town (albeit officially as a guest, not a resident, for a month) later this week. I’ll have a lot to catch up on. Playing catchup is, to our shame, very Philadelphian.

NewsWorks throws the lede down a mine shaft in story about speeding

I have to say, when it comes to consistently high-quality local news, WHYY’s NewsWorks is the reigning king of the mountain. That’s why they sit in the Philadelphia section of the blogroll, over on the right column of this page. But even they sometimes make an odd editorial choice, and the one in last week’s article in their ongoing series on speeding was rather mind-boggling.

Here is the 35th graf of the story:

[Philadelphia Police Traffic Division Sgt. William] Stermel said that since his lieutenant reached out to request their [State Police] assistance — by law, State Police are the only law-enforcement entity permitted to use radar — cooperation between the agencies has been optimal and that “people have been slowing down” since there are few places to hide marked units along those roadways [Kelly, Lincoln and MLK Drives].

Wait, what was that?

by law, State Police are the only law-enforcement entity permitted to use radar

What.

OK, maybe this is my New Philadelphianism showing through, but around where I grew up, every postage-stamp jurisdiction with the funds to hire an officer and buy a Crown Vic for her to drive, would then send her out with a radar gun, ticketing whatever leadfoot drivers happened to chance across their boundaries. Restricting the radar guns to the State Highway Patrol might have caused the locals to raise their banners in rebellion. And well they should have; in addition to the revenue generated (because speed laws are the only laws more commonly broken than either marijuana prohibition or buying hooch in Delaware), speed enforcement does provide a safety benefit to the public that can be measured in lives. Lives of drivers, lives of passengers, and lives of other users of the road.

Radar and LiDAR are now mature technologies, and it makes no sense to restrict them to the hands of the State Police. If you’re worried about uniformity across the state, then create a state certification program for the officers who would use them. But radar and LiDAR guns are lifesaving devices that need to be gotten into the hands of our local police officers as soon as possible.

And Brian Hickey and NewsWorks could stand to bang this drum a little louder than the 35th graf. They did much better than that in the first report they did on the subject in September, but not everyone has a long memory, and clearly nobody in Harrisburg has put two and two together yet on the need to take this up. I would rather not wait, while more people die, for this problem to be fixed.

The US Open is in town, and so is a lot of water

The big to-do in Philadelphia this week is the 2013 US Open, back at the Merion Golf Club for the first time since 1981. The Main Line neighborhoods are thoroughly disrupted, with Ardmore Ave., Haverford Road, and College Ave. all completely closed to traffic, and hordes of spectators descending on any real estate available for hire (including, for the official hospitality and media structures, much of the Haverford College campus). SEPTA is expecting crowding on the NHSL and Paoli lines usually only seen during the Flower Show or similar events, only instead of having the throughput of Market East Station and Center City to work with, the destinations are Ardmore Ave. on the NHSL, and Rosemont on the Paoli Line. Ardmore Ave., the preferred alternative right on the doorstep of the Merion Golf Club, has seen a major renovation in preparation for the expected crowds, including a platform lengthening to accommodate two two-car trains in the station at the same time. Rosemont station is a staging point for shuttle buses connecting Paoli Line riders, and extra trains will be added to the schedule later this week.

Unfortunately, this big party has already hit a snag in its first day: the weather. We’ve seen a lot of rain in the last four days, and the ground is saturated. Not only are the US Open officials preparing backup plans in case the 11th, 12th, and 4th greens get flooded out, SEPTA is having stormwater management problems of its own, diverting passengers from Ardmore Ave. to Haverford stations due to flooding. Not exactly the best foot forward, but the rain is not under the control of either SEPTA or the USPGA. I’ll be keeping an eye out for further rainouts, both SEPTA- and golf-related, but for real-time updates, the best bet is still SEPTA’s Twitter stream.

Philaredditor: Silverliner Vs cause RF interference in audio equipment

This story comes to us from a post by Reddit user /u/alexdingley on the /r/Philadelphia subreddit, which can be found at http://www.reddit.com/r/philadelphia/comments/1dlhfx/this_sound_is_interference_caused_by_the_new/. The short version: the Silverliner Vs are producing a lot of radio frequency interference in the catenary that is rendering the recording studio in his home unusable. It’s unclear if this can get brought to the FCC, but if it can, then either SEPTA, Hyundai Rotem, or both are in serious trouble. And even if the FCC doesn’t care, it’s still bad and should be fixed.

I reproduce the full text of the original explanation here, with obvious speech recognition and style errors (but NOT technical errors) corrected, after the jump:
Continue reading “Philaredditor: Silverliner Vs cause RF interference in audio equipment”

Character limit workaround: a reply to @IngaSaffron

The heart of this tweet is the fear of getting a good idea, bike share, embroiled in an extended NIMBY fight energized by idiots who hold “a cost-free street parking spot” on their own list of rights, right after (or before) speech, religion, assembly, and non-self-incrimination.  Fighting idiots is necessary, but creates delays and just feels like a demoralizing waste of resources.

I would suggest simply going around the parking-worshippers and siting bike share pods by simply asking for volunteers.  There are plenty of enlightened property owners and/or tenants out there who understand that a bike pod in the parking lane in front of their building adds far more value than a car.  Just ask those people or businesses to come forward.  The city can then distribute many (most?) of the pods where they will be guaranteed not to be offensive to the immediate neighbors.  Indeed, it would make for an effective publicity campaign to base the process around the loudly stated assumption that there will be more demand for a pod than pods to be distributed.  Make it a desirable status good, not a sacrifice; if you want to be really cheeky, auction the pods in the most oversubscribed locations.  And let the smart businesses reap the benefits of their early adopterhood.

(Normally I would reply to a tweet wih a tweet, but 140 characters is just not enough to explain an idea, sometimes.  Apologies for any issues from the WP phone client.)

Capital Punishment FY2014

Unlike the operating budget hearings, which I attended all ten of, I did not attend the capital budget hearings. I didn’t really have to. I could tell you last month, and I could tell you right now, what they consisted of. Here is an abbreviated “transcript”, translated into everyday English.

SEPTA: “We have a capital budget this year of $308 million. This isn’t anything. This might cover basic repairs of our bus and rail fleet for about nine months out of twelve, if we’re fortunate. Plus some replacement buses we have to buy and were going to anyway. The Feds are forcing us to spend a sixth of the 300 mill on Positive Train Control. The rest definitely won’t pay for anything we might desperately want. Here is our list of things we can pay for. Please take note how none of them cost any money.”

Public: “Can we have things X, Y, and Z that we really want and some of which you promised us before?”

SEPTA: “No. Things X, Y, and Z cost money. To reiterate, we can’t spend any money because we don’t have any.”

Public: “This sucks. Why don’t you guys have more money?”

SEPTA: “Governor Corbett has promised to fix the problem where he isn’t giving us any money”

Public: *puts two and two together* “Governor Corbett is an asshole.”

SEPTA: *Our fear for our jobs, and the hope we have that we might succeed in getting more money, prevents us from agreeing with you.*

SEPTA: *Also, thank you for not inquiring too deeply into the list of things we’re going to quietly let fall apart because we don’t have the money to fix them. We’re already losing one bridge, and we can’t afford to look any more pathetic than we already do.*

SEPTA: *Help. Send money. Please. Help.*